Get ready for some Zany-Haney! This episode Shag and Rob present the first of many Bob Haney Showcase Specials! Mr. Haney’s unique perspective on continuity and characterization should be celebrated, and that’s just what we aim to do! This time we’re covering two classic Brave and the Bold issues starring Batman — #102 featuring a team-up with the Teen Titans, and #124 featuring a team-up with an elderly Sgt. Rock and … Bob Haney & Jim Aparo! For realz, the writer and artist actually appear as characters in the story! It doesn’t get much more Zany-Haney than this!

As always, thanks to my co-host Rob Kelly, Sea King of THE AQUAMAN SHRINE, for doing all the post-production on these episodes! Opening theme, “That Time is Now,” by Michael Kohler. Special thanks to Daniel Adams and Ashton Burge with their band The Bad Mamma Jammas for our fantastic original closing theme! This episode brought to you in part by InStockTrades.com!

14 Comments

I loved it. Love me some Haney. I actually don’t have this Teen Titans team-up…I really need to get that 2nd B&B Showcase Presents volume. The Adams art you posted looked like it was pretty heavy in Giordano as well, especially the last page. Those guys were sneaking in artwork all over the place in the 70s…even the first Superman/Spidey tabloid!

The Rock team-up was bat-crap crazy, but just infectiously fun. I like to imagine Haney walked over to target practice with Mike Grell at the end of this story. I think he lived in the Catskills as well, and we know he’s an archer.

I never cared much for Earth-Prime stories much either. The JLA/JSA crossover where Cary Bates was the villain is one of the worst in the entire JLA run. I did like the very nice “I Flew with Superman” story by Curt Swan, where the artist wakes up on Earth-One and has an adventure with Superman, though.

Congrats to Rob again on his Yahoo movies piece. It’s very exciting to see a major media outlet go directly to THE source. And of course Rob steered it into something other than “talks to fish” jokes. His love for Aquaman was apparent, but he managed to show that appreciation for the character, without taking it too seriously, and making himself (and by extension, us) look like socially-inept basement dwellers.

Finally!! A Zaney Bob Haney Episode!!! I love that Metamorpho song! That thing is glorious!

Congrats again on the Yahoo Movies article Rob!

Serious question here, did either of you ever meet Bob Haney before he died or talked to your connections (like Rob’s Paul Kupperberg connection) to find out in Mr. Haney was truly just a Zaney individual, or if some of his stories may have been produced thanks to aid of some LSD or other mind altering drugs?

This stories sound so fun, man I really need to get around to picking up more Showcase volumes and tracking down both of these. One of the local shops has a decent amount of these old Teen Titan and Brave & the Bold Issues at really not that bad prices ($3 to $6), I’ve even hooked up Russell Burbage with a couple of issues he was missing. I think I’m going to have to run out over lunch and look to see if they have either one of these.

I love that Dirty Job story! The Treasury Comic that Rob references that reprints it is Limited Collectors’ Edition C-52, “Best of DC Volume 1.” According to Mike’s Amazing World, this story has never been reprinted in a Showcase volume, it has only been reprinted in the said Treasury Edition and the SGT. Rock Special #11 from 1991. The story was originally printed in Our Army at War #241. I might actually have this original issue, I have an almost complete 40 issue run of Our Army of War from around this era, I wonder if I have this issue or if it’s one of the few I’m missing. Whew, you want to talk about some expensive issues to track down, take a look at what Bronze Age DC War books go for! Holy Crap! Trying to track down issues from this era will cost you anywhere from $5-$20 an issue on ebay! I was lucky enough to score a bunch of these from a garage sale when I was a kid for 10-25 cents a pop.

I can’t believe Shag never mentioned that Sgt. Rock and Easy Co had figures from the perennial punching-bag of a toy company, Remco!

Another great episode of Fire & Water guys! I can’t wait for more of these Zaney Bob Haney episodes!!! Fan the Flame & Ride the Wave!

PS Thank you for the Post Credits shout out to Casey Kasem, he will be missed. He voiced so many of my favorites cartoon characters as a child between Robin, Shaggy, and Cliffjumper, Bluestreak and Teletran-1 off of the Transformers cartoon. RIP Mr. Kasem.

With Regards to the Earth-Prime JLA stories, I honestly think the best one of those ever published was probably the new story that was featured in the DC 1970’s Reactroactive Justice League issue from 2011. Damnit when are they going to bring those back? I actually got to see some of original art from that issue last week when Gordon Purcell was in town at my LCS. He had just finally got his art back from DC the week prior, only took them 3 years. I’m going to have to pick up one of those pages next time I see Gordon here in a couple of months.

Team up books like Brave and the Bold are a big part of my youth and so Haney is a hero of mine. I am so glad you did this show and are planning to do more.

As for the issues you review, I haven’t read either so this was new craziness to digest. I do wonder if Haney was influenced by Soylent Green in which frontloaders are used to clear a path through people.

I have 2 Haney issues which are my favorites and would probably fit right in to a ‘zany’ podcast.

Brave and Bold #63 – Supergirl and Wonder Woman star in ‘Revolt of the Super-chicks’. In the story, Supergirl and Wonder Woman give up being heroes to become models in Paris and be wooed by charming Frenchmen. Only after foiling some crooks do they realize they should have loftier goals. The cover alone could be a podcast. Wonder Woman is a ‘Kryptonite booby trap’? Fantastic! Works on all levels! “The super-chicks are on a new kick”? Perfect.

Brave and Bold #118 – Batman and Wildcat. This is one of my ‘beach comics’ (akin to Rob’s mountain comics). It was absolutely befuddling as a kid. A strange virus is introduced into Gotham and only a missing puppy has the antibodies in his system to create a vaccine. The Joker grabs the puppy and decides to make Batman box Wildcat to the death. The winner will get the puppy and save everyone. AND … the Joker makes them box with spiked ancient Roman boxing gloves! I think in the plot Batman says the dog has the antibodies, then doesn’t have the antibodies but has the virus, then ends up having the antibodies? A 7-yr old Anj couldn’t follow it. But seeing Batman and Wildcat pound each other was awesome.

Great alternate theme music! Can wait to hear you guys discuss Metamorpho the Element Mmmother#$%^&*s.

Once again, you guys posted on the same day rumors broke that in BvS, Wonder Woman will wear her “classic costume” of blue leather skirt, extended Byrne bracelets, gold tiara and red top. JoBlo reports that she’ll use a Captain America style shield, sword, spear, and lasso. No origin, and very active participant in BvS and its finale. Still, to my eyes, Gal Gadot remains less Gina Carano, more Olive Oyl.

Superman, Batman and supposedly Wonder Woman are all on-model, which gives credence to Rob’s assertions about Aquaman, but I think the truth will be closer to the middle of his and Shag’s extremes. I doubt Momoa will get a dye job, or even a haircut, but the beard is going to go. Maybe rock a ponytail? Introduce him topless in BvS, have him suit up for Justice League, get two action figures out of the deal. Warner Brothers doesn’t believe in humor, so no Thorstyle slapstack & wench talk, but surely a more surly PAD demeanor. Still ironic that Rob thinks Aquaman is beating Namor to the silver screen when clearly they’ll debut simultaneously as an Amalgam.

You know, I couldn’t appreciate Haney Teen Titans when I was deep into that team, and today I don’t think there’s a property Haney has been associated with that I have less interest in reading. They’re so square for ’72 even beatniks would finger them as narcs.

Given how Roy Harper treats domesticated cats, filthy rats never had a chance for sympathy. What, no impromptu skinny dipping scene?

My favorite Brave & the Bold team-up was with Ragman. Hope you guys cover it with Chad Bokelman sometime.

My, you chaps certainly have given up on keeping the language gentlemanly. Tut-tut.

Imagine if Sgt. Rock had been Batman’s ongoing sidekick. That “no guns” policy would have gone straight out of the window. I doubt that Arkham Asylum would have been so full, but Rock may have gone rogue, forcing Batman to send him up to Stryker’s Island. Say, wouldn’t the second volume of Suicide Squad have revalidated these story, in a certain fashion? Anyway, the meta-story was a gas. “The Jim Aparo Fan Club” is a blog, by the way. Oh, and the Joe Kubert packaging was enough to trick me into buying a crappy Sgt. Rock action figure, but only the one.

I wasn’t going to let truth get in the way of my sarcasm, but I could totally tell that Yahoo Buzzfeedified you with all those bullet points, set-ups, and quotation marks. Your content still read well enough, but the contortions, man… Some say the world will end in fire, others say listicles.

A very entertaining episode! I remember reading that issue with Sgt Rock early in my collecting days, and young me being incredibly confused…why the heck are writers and artists in this book! I need to dig this out and read it again!

I was checking comicbookdb, looking at some of Haney’s credits trying to jog my memory…what else I have I read…what story would I have picked? And noticed…he wrote a fair number of things for DC’s horror books too…”House of Mystery”, “House of Secrets”, “Ghosts”, “Witching Hour”…who has the Showcase editions of these and is going home after work to see if these stories are as zaney as his superhero stuff? This guy!

Terrific episode chaps, I enjoyed it hugely. I’ve not read either of those issues, but had seen the Rock cover many times and was curious. How nutty. It’s a shame Aparo didn’t get ill drawing this issue, that would have thrown a spanner in the terrorists’ work.

Tiny thing, Shag, it was just the 100 and the 1000, no Committee. You may be thinking of Supergirl’s The Gang Committee …

I second Anj on that Wondy/Supergirl issue, it was just nuts. If you go away from Haney, but stay with bonkers, how about Wonder Woman #185, Them! It’s easily available in one of the recent Diana Prince paperbacks.

Martin, I believe Shag was thinking of the 2000 Committee, which opposed Firestorm in the early 1980s…

I hope you gentlemen will one day cover the Brave and the Bold story which featured Hawk and Dove as adults. I found it interesting how ICG’s Official Teen Titans Index went out of its way to explain how that story fits into DC Pre-Crisis Continuity… while Tales of the Teen Titans #50 actually made a reference to the story while dismissing it from continuity at the same time…

Thank you for the referral, Chris. That was a fun podcast. And I didn’t realize that Hawk and Dove story was written by Mr. Brennert. I must have just assumed it was Bob Haney because the story just seemed like one Mr. Haney would have written.

I don’t know if this has been mentioned anywhere yet but Batman was shown to be deputized as far back as 1941, but they started playing up the fact that he was deputized during the days of the Comics code. Because as it said ” Policemen, judges, government officials, and respected institutions shall never be presented in such a way as to create disrespect for established authority.”

Well this was a whole lot of fun. I love Bob Haney, as you know, and I admit it’s been too long since I did anything with that love over on the SBG. I’d covered the entire first Showcase of Teen Titans very early, on still consider my Brave and the Bold vs. Marvel Two-in-One feature active even if I haven’t touched it in years.

I never got to these particular issues, but I did cover Batman’s first team ups with both the Titans (the one where Batman prefers an evil son to Robin) and Sgt. Rock (the one where Batman is alive and fighting Nazis in WWII Europe).

Search

Welcome to FIRESTORM FAN:

The Source for DC Comics' Nuclear Man – Firestorm! You'll find anything and everything Firestorm-related here. We cover things such as: news, comics, merchandise, toys, apparel, cartoons, creator interviews, podcasts, and commentary about the character. This site is maintained by The Irredeemable Shag and is not affiliated with DC Comics in any way.